Big and Little Stuff

Jim’s light and engaging songs for kids celebrate real values with thoughtful words and melodies. More than nursery rhymes, these songs take on subjects that concern kids and prepare them to be citizens in the larger world, in Jim’s inimitable humor and above-average music. For elementary and precocious pre-school ages.

Track List & Lyrics

A Great Big Breath

Sometimes you just don’t feel like dancing all about
And your song doesn’t want to come out.
Things are all twisted up inside,
You feel as though you’d like to run and hide.
You’re s’posed to be a good sport,
but you’d rather scream and shout.

Well – breathe in the gifts of the grass and the trees,
And the flowers, they serve it all to us – in a breeze.
They clear up the air for you and me.
You don’t have to be rich, ’cause they do it all for free.
Now blow out everything that’s bothering you.
Sometimes nothin’ but a great big breath will do.

Sometimes things have got you feelin’ uptight,
Cause you’ve been tryin’ with all of your might
To solve a problem that’s really tough –
You tried to be patient but enough is enough –
An it doesn’t seem to come out right.

Well – breathe in the gifts of the grass and the trees,
And the flowers, they serve it all to us – in a breeze.
They clear up the air for you and me.
You don’t have to be rich, ’cause they do it all for free.
Now blow out everything that’s bothering you.
Sometimes nothin’ but a great big breath will do.

Something’s got you feelin’ sad, or just downright bad.
Someone didn’t seem to care and made you mad.
Someone borrowed your best friend
Without even asking if you wanted to lend,
And this is just about the worst day you’ve ever had.

Well – breathe in the gifts of the grass and the trees,
And the flowers, they serve it all to us – in a breeze.
They clear up the air for you and me.
You don’t have to be rich, ’cause they do it all for free.
Now blow out everything that’s bothering you.
Sometimes nothin’ but a great big breath will do.

The Rainforest Song

On the ground level, turtles and leopards and snakes
live in the shelter the rainforest makes.
The ground is so soft and the air is so clear
with three hundred inches of rain ev’ry year.

Oh let the rain feed the thirsty ground.
Sing me the song of life you sing, such a beautiful sound.
Down in the the ground, the worms and the ants
nurture the roots of the flowering plants.
And under the canopy, life is a breeze.
Orangutans swing from the limbs of the trees.

Oh let the rain feed the thirsty ground.
Sing me the song of life you sing, such a beautiful sound.
(counterline)
(rain come down, rain come down)
High up above, where the toucans fly,
Emergent tree tops reach into the sky.
There’s more kinds of plants than anyone knows.
Look out! There’s a sloth hanging by her three toes.

Oh let the rain (etc.)

(bring in lines one at a time)
The understory, the understory.
The ground level, on the ground level.
Canopy- Canopy-
Emergent! Emergent!

Big and Little Stuff

Can anyone say for sure just what’s large and what’s small?
There’s some big, and some little, within us all.
Is this a big world, or a small world? Well it’s all in how you see it. Are you big, or are you small? I think it’s all in how you be it.
The biggest railroad train can be just a little late.
And when is a big saucer just a little plate?
With a little secret it’s a big thing to be trusted.
A big machine won’t run when it gets a little rusted.

One big song can grow from little thoughts and rhymes.
Bigger thoughts than you might think
come from little thoughts some times.
Big problems all seem smaller when we come to find
this big and little stuff is all in our minds.

You can be a big hero who is just a little scared
A big boy, or girl, scout – can be a little unprepared
You can be a little sad and still wear a great big smile
You can have the greatest time in just a little while.
The tiniest jewel can cost a great big pile of money.
A magician can do a great trick with just a little bunny.
Are there big clouds in your sky? Or is it just a little sunny?
Is it all a big tragedy? Or is it just a little funny?

(Refrain)
Did you take a big fall running just a little fast?
Did you miss your big chance when just a little time had passed?
You can be “simply the greatest,” or you can be a little fancy.
Big can look important, but there’s a lot of things you can’t see.
Just one short inch can take a long time to grow.
But then, a little truth can take a long time to know.
And sometimes a little love can be very hard to show.
Sometimes one step ahead can be the hardest way to go.

(Refrain)

A Hug Sometimes

Everybody needs a hug sometimes
Or just to snuggle like a bug sometimes
We’re designed for being friends
Arms that stretch, elbows that bend
‘Cause everybody needs a hug sometimes

Everybody needs to talk sometimes
Or some company on quiet walk sometimes
So be a listener when it’s your turn
You’d be surprised what you can learn
‘Cause everybody needs to talk sometimes

Everybody needs a smile sometimes
A little cheering up for a while sometimes
So take it lightly, be a clown
Don’t be discouraged by that frown
‘Cause everybody needs a smile sometimes.

Do It by Myself

I just want to do it by myself
Don’t want to share it with anybody else
It’s mine all mine
‘Cause put in the time
To do it all myself.

I just want to do it on my own
Maybe I just want to spend some time alone
But what will be the most fun
Is when my work is done
And every one will know, that I did it all myself.

I’m so excited, I got energy to burn
Don’t want to have to wait, don’t want to have to learn
You don’t need to explain or watch, no time to hesitate
I’ll run and jump and climb on top and trampoline and ice skate
And make my own mistakes, burn the cookies, crash the bike
I can do it! I can do it! You don’t know what this is like.
You held my hand the last time. I can make it this time.

I’m getting better everytime. I’ll roll in mud and jump in slime.
It’s too hard to explain to anybody else
That when my work is through
I can show it all to you
That I did it by myself.

To Be Your Friend

Well I think I’d like to be your friend.
I thing that we could really have some fun.
A real companion is so much better that pretend,
and games are better played by more than one
so I think I’d like to be your friend.

You look sort of different from me
and I guess that I was not too sure about you.
But if you like the way that different colored flowers go together,
well I guess that goes for people too
and I’d like to be friends with you.

You see I’m kind of new in this school
and I don’t know a lot about your town.
I don’t know all your language, but I can play it cool.
This making new friends is not as bad as it sounds.
You know I’m kind of fun to have around.

I can be serious, or I can be a clown.
I can make you want to giggle when you’re wearing a frown
It’s just too much trouble to be nasty I’ve found.

So I think I’d like to be your friend.
And there’s other friends I’d like you to know
Once we start there’s no telling just
where it all will end but it’s great to see the circle grow.
We’ll get all of our friends to be friends.

We won’t have to be afraid when we’re friends
No we won’t want to fight when we’re friends
And if kids can do it, well maybe grownups can be friends.
We’ll get the whole world to be friends.

(There's a) Moon Out My Window

There’s a moon out my window and it’s smiling at me.
There’s a moon out my window and it’s smiling at me.
As it sails through the night for the whole world to see,
There’s a moon out my window and it’s smiling at me.

There are stars out my window and they’re twinkling bright.
There are close ones and far ones that fade out of sight.
I’ve tried to start counting, but I can’t get it right.
They’re like so many diamonds flung out in the night.

In the morning the stars are all gone but instead
The sky in the East is all orange and red.
Then a beam of bright sunlight lands right on my head
Calling “Wake up it’s another day! Get out of bed.”

There’s a moon in the daytime every once in a while,
And each time I see it I just have to smile.
It took a rwrong turn in the night sky I guess.
Up there in the dark, why, the traffic’s a mess.

Eliminate

I sit and think about it for hours and hours
How the stuff that goes down the toilet
feeds the trees and the flowers
It goes into the septic tank and goes into the ground,
Then in the springtime, new life comes around

And speaking of lettuce, the vegetables and fruits
Reach to the sky while they hang on with their roots.
And when the flowers need to eat, I hope they get enough
Of the water that goes through us, and all the other stuff.

The ground drinks the water and the plants eat the dirt.
The corn makes food and the cotton makes your shirt
The trees make the apples and the apples make the juice
the juice goes right through us and the earth puts it to use

[Chorus]

The water cycle’s more than rivers and wells
Some of it’s toxic and some of it smells
It goes through the earth and it comes out clean
All the flowers love the earth’s big toilet machine.

From the tiny bugs and microbes
to the sponges and the reeds
With what they get from us they seem
to know just what we need
The sun turns it to vapor/clouds
and cold makes snow and ice
But after some time in nature
water comes back clean and nice

[Chorus]

We’d like to thank the toilet,
though it sounds kind of strange.
Deer and antelopes don’t have them out on the range
But in your house be glad
that you at least have one
and singing about it is all lots of fun

I’ll skip the chorus and sing the verse,
since this is getting kind of long,
If I hope to get any
top 40 air play with this song.
So in your ecology, feel free
to drop or add a line
Irregular or regular eliminating is just fine.